A Mitochondria-Targeted PPR Protein Restores pol Cytoplasmic Male Sterility by Reducing orf224 Transcript Levels in Oilseed Rape

Cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) in plants is a maternally inherited inability to produce functional pollen. CMS is generally caused by aberrant mitochondrial genes that are often chimeric in structure and frequently co-transcribed with conventional mitochondrial genes (Hanson and Bentolila, 2004). In many instances, male sterility can be recovered by nuclear-encoded restorer of fertility (Rf) genes. CMS/Rf systems serve as an excellent model to study mitochondrial-nuclear coevolution and interaction in plants as well as as a useful genetic tool for breeding to exploit hybrid vigor in crops (Chen and Liu, 2014).